According to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, applying the wrong policy could multiply the present rate of migration, and consequently he is advocating a firm border protection policy.
Protecting Hungary, protecting the European Union
Referring to the border closure, the Prime Minister said that “while we are protecting Hungary, we are also protecting the European Union”, which is not without precedent in the history of Hungary.
Regarding the Serbian-Hungarian cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, he said that although Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić was also not delighted by the plan to erect a fence along the Serbian-Hungarian border, “which is understandable”, migration is also an issue in which Serbians and Hungarians should seek to establish a common standpoint.
Responding to the criticism received from international organisations such as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), Viktor Orbán said that these international organisations are afraid of the future. The next few years won’t be easy because of migrations, but “we can see the tasks ahead, we have a schedule and we have action plans”; we must implement these rather than fearing the future, he said.
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Hungary will be considered on an individual basis
Mr. Orbán also spoke about the EU summit held last week at which a decision was made on the issue of immigration, according to which Hungary – together with Bulgaria – will be treated as a special case. Hungary must stand up for its own interests because “our situation differs from that of everyone else”: “we are not a frontline country (…), but Hungary is nevertheless in a more difficult situation than they are, because the Greeks do not apprehend economic migrants at their own borders, allowing them to flow onwards and into Hungary”, the Prime Minister explained.
In Brussels, the Government of Hungary represented the standpoint according to which the regulations and quotas concerning the distribution of migrants are not applicable to Hungary: “we insist on the right to come to a voluntary decision based on individual legislation and we are not prepared to take on added burdens since we are already overburdened compared to other countries”, he said.
The Prime Minister regards the issue of who we let into our homes and country as being the most fundamental question of personal security that only the Hungarian people can decide.
Mr. Orbán also said that those who do not distinguish between refugees and economic migrants, but view them all simply as foreigners and who do not regard them as dangerous but as something beautiful, and who profess that the more diverse people make up a society, the better, are convinced that Hungary is hindering a positive process. He added that it is mainly the Left, who considers the nation and the family to be less important, which suffers from “the disorder of having illusions concerning immigration”.
The Prime Minister also explained his viewpoint according to which, in contrast to Africa, Europe also guarantees an existence for people without any performance in return. Therefore, if people in Africa receive the information that they will be granted entry to Europe and will be taken care of, they will set off “and not just in their hundreds of thousands”, because “the mathematical dimensions” of this issue are unforeseeable, as hundreds of millions of people live in Africa.
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Due to the incorrect handling of the problem and Europe’s mistaken solution to it, “the image in Africa today” is that Europe accepts the arrival of immigrants to the continent. Therefore, we must tell them clearly that “there is no chance, we will send you back, this continent will not become your new homeland, you have your own home, this is our home, we have built it; we are happy to cooperate, but we have laws, which you must abide by if you want to come here, for which there are also rules; you cannot simply run through our fences and borders illegally”, the Prime Minister said explaining his border protection policy.
In response to a question concerning the Greek crisis, Mr. Orbán emphasised that had the extraordinary solidarity not been established in Hungary in 2010, and had the Government not gained a two-third majority, with which it has been able to make difficult decisions, we too would still be in the same situation as Greece. The Hungarians, however, have established a “complete and almost unconditional unity”, he said, adding that in Greece, unity was not the solution to getting out of difficulties.
However, Mr. Orbán also indicated that he deeply sympathises with the Greeks and is keeping his fingers crossed for them. “The Greeks could have done more, and those whose job it was to help them could also have been less greedy”, the Prime Minister said.
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There are no losers to the 2016 budget
Concerning the fact that Parliament has already approved the 2016 budget, Mr. Orbán said it is an unprecedented event that Hungary has reached a level of predictability whereby it has an approved budget halfway through the year. Continuing on the subject, he highlighted the reduction in the rate of personal income tax and the measures required to achieve full employment. “There are no losers to the budget”, he said describing the budget; “everyone can take a step forward”.
(Prime Minister's Office)
